TALKS were expected to start today on whether Islamist clerics who have voiced support for terrorism in the wake of the London bombings can be charged with treason.

The government's senior legal adviser, Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, wants prosecutors and police to consider if the ancient law can be used against three prominent preachers.

He ordered the talks after examining TV interviews given by Omar Bakri Mohammed, Abu Izzadeen and Abu Uzair last week, in which they refused to condemn the July 7 attacks, which killed 52 innocent people, and the botched bombings of July 21.

After discussions with Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald on Saturday, he asked the Crown Prosecution Service's head of anti-terrorism to meet senior Metropolitan Police officers early this week.

No decision on whether charges should be brought has been made, stressed a spokesman for Lord Goldsmith's office.

But they will consider whether any of a range of charges could be brought against the three men.

Among offences being looked at are treason, incitement to treason, soliciting murder or incitement to withhold information known to be of use to police.

`Magnificent'

Bakri, the spiritual head of the extremist al-Muhajiroun group, claimed it was "God-forbidden" for Muslims to give information to police about plots to carry out terror attacks in the UK and said they had a "duty" to fight British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said he would not inform police if he knew a terror attack was being planned and would support hostage-taking at a British school in a "just cause".

Uzair, a member of the same group and its successor organisation the Saviour Sect, described the September 11 attacks in the US as "magnificent".

Sadiq Khan, a former human rights lawyer who attended the Downing Street Muslim summit in the wake of the London bomb attacks, said fellow Muslims in his Tooting constituency in south London were worried by several elements of the Prime Minister's package.

Those who preached hate should be investigated and prosecuted but that did not mean their mosques should be shut, he said.